<h2 id="c11"><br/><i>CASTAWAYS IN SPACE</i></h2>
<p>The two of them had just
shoved the supply case against the chute door
when the space ship gave an unexpected burst
of rocket power, knocking Skip Miller against
the release lever. The escape door shot up and
a big square of black space opened before the
boys’ eyes.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_145">145</div>
<p>Glen Hartzell was stunned to see his friend
go spinning down the incline and follow the
supply case toward the open door. Automatically,
Glen stretched his lean body full length
trying to grasp Skip’s space suit before he escaped.
But his momentum sent him skidding
down the slope and the next thing he knew
he was out in space, too.</p>
<p>A week ago Glen wouldn’t have cared
whether he faced death or not. He and Skip
had just made the scorned fraternity of
“Wockies,” washed-out cadets. His failure had
cut like a knife. He had wanted to pilot ships
through the depths of space more than anything
else in the world. Instead, he and Skip
had been assigned to ground crews on Mars.
That, at least, had been their destination until
Skip’s elbow unexpectedly made them castaways
in space.</p>
<p>Glen’s first thought was directed to Skip,
who looked like a toy balloon as he drifted
through the vacuum. “Skip!” he called over
his space suit radio. “Do you hear me, Skip?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Glen,” Skip’s reply was scarcely
more than a squeak.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_146">146</div>
<p>Glen looked down and ahead where a massive
rock some ten miles in diameter hung
in the starry emptiness. “If we can make
Phobos, we may be all right.”</p>
<p>“We’re done for,” Skip groaned.</p>
<p>“We’re not!” Glen’s wits were sharpened
by the danger. “We’re lined up pretty well
with Phobos. She doesn’t have any gravity to
speak of and we may be able to land on her.”</p>
<p>“We won’t make Phobos,” Skip argued.
“We’ll either run into Mars’ gravity field and
crash on its surface or float through space until
our air runs out.”</p>
<p>“Shut up, Skip!” Glen’s tone was sharp.
“Listen to me. See if you can pick up a little
speed by kicking out behind with your feet
and hands. If you can catch up with the supply
case, hang on.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_147">147</div>
<p>Skip didn’t reply but Glen saw his arms and
legs begin to move. Glen worked his own. It
was a grueling effort, but Glen found that he
was able to increase his speed much in the
manner of a space ship’s thrust. By the time
Glen touched Skip’s suit, both of them were
sucking freely of their precious oxygen.</p>
<p>“What’s the idea?” Skip asked as his gloved
hand clutched the strap of the supply case and
Glen held onto him.</p>
<p>“We’ll use the case as a buffer to break our
fall,” Glen explained. “Remember, it’s covered
with foam rubber so that it won’t shatter
when it hits.”</p>
<p>The two had been preparing to drop the
emergency supply case on Mars at the time of
the accident. Glen was glad now that they’d
donned space suits.</p>
<p>Glen saw that the space ship was now only
a tiny needle against the red disk of Mars. He
and Skip had probably not even been missed
by the crew. When they did find out, they
wouldn’t know where to look for the boys.</p>
<p>Phobos was a jagged, frightening giant below,
but Glen held nothing but love for it.
Their speed had increased slightly, but it did
not look as if they would hit the ground dangerously
fast.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_148">148</div>
<p>Glen felt Skip’s muscles tense for the landing.</p>
<p>“Steady, fellow!” Glen breathed.</p>
<p>He felt a rough jar in the pit of his stomach.
Glen bounced off Skip’s back as though he
were rubber. He spread out his arms to ease
his fall, then was surprised to find his body
settling down to rest as lightly as a leaf.</p>
<p>Glen felt a prickly chill in his cheeks.
“We’ve got practically no weight at all!” he
breathed. Skip had almost drifted off into
space again, but Glen grabbed his leg and
pulled him back.</p>
<p>“It’s a crazy world, isn’t it?” Skip searched
the rocky landscape that sloped down from
them on both sides. It was weird to be on a
globe so tiny you were conscious of its roundness.</p>
<p>Glenn nodded. “We’ve <i>really</i> got to keep
both feet on the ground!”</p>
<p>“What if they don’t find us, Glen?” Skip
asked. “What then?”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_149">149</div>
<p>“I don’t know, Skip,” Glen sighed. “Let’s
see what’s in the supply case.”</p>
<p>Glen was able to crawl better than he could
walk over to the supply case. Skip followed.
Glen pressed a button on the case and the top
sprang up.</p>
<p>“Whew! There’s not much that isn’t included!”
Skip said. “Spare oxygen tanks, a
bubble tent outfit, food capsules, water maker,
first-aid, flares, books, electronic stove-heater.”</p>
<p>“Let’s put up the bubble tent,” Glen said.
“It’ll help save our heat.”</p>
<p>As he had learned in cadet training, he removed
a cylinder from the outfit and pulled a
lever. It popped open and a plastic bubble began
growing out of it. The bubble, which was
slightly oblong and transparent, enlarged to
about seven feet, then detached itself from the
cartridge airtight. After it had hardened for
several minutes, Glen took an electric saw
from the kit and cut a small door in the side.
They made hinges from self-sealing plastic
strips.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_150">150</div>
<p>They used the foam rubber from around
the case for flooring, then put the supplies inside
the bubble. They turned on the heater
and then turned off the heat units in their
suits.</p>
<p>“How long do you figure our supplies can
last, Glen?” Skip asked.</p>
<p>“They’re supposed to last two people ten
days,” Glen replied. “Don’t you remember
that question on our exam?”</p>
<p>“Don’t remind me!” Skip said. “I’m tired
of hearing about the cadet corps.”</p>
<p>“I know,” Glen said bitterly.</p>
<p>“How could they flunk us on one question?”
Skip asked. “It wasn’t fair.”</p>
<p>“I agree with you,” Glen answered, “but
the fact remains that we’ve got to take it.”</p>
<p>Skip chuckled grimly. “You talk as if we
have a lifetime ahead of us. We don’t know
whether we’ve got <i>tomorrow</i>.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_151">151</div>
<p>“Which reminds me, we’d better send off
some flares to let somebody know where we
are.” Glen picked up some of the rocket flares
and “drifted” out of the bubble tent. He set
up a flare on its tripod legs, pointed it at Mars’
ruddy face and pulled on the release catch.
But it wouldn’t move.</p>
<p>“It’s jammed!” Glen tried another rocket
and got the same result. Then another, and another.
They were all useless, all the catches
warped, possibly from having been kept too
near a heat source in the ship.</p>
<p>“How are we going to signal Mars now?”
Skip asked.</p>
<p>“Anything we toss out will be drawn to the
planet by its gravitation,” Glen was thinking
out loud.</p>
<p>“How about throwing out some of the extra
supplies we have?” Skip proposed. “We can
attach a note.”</p>
<p>“It’s a million-to-one shot they’d be found.
Don’t you realize that only a fraction of Mars
has colonists? No, I’m afraid we’d wait here
until doomsday if we had to count on that.”</p>
<p>“But what else is there to do?” Skip’s eyes
were round with dread.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_152">152</div>
<p>Glen fought down his own sudden despair.
“It looks as though we’ll have to get to Mars
on our own, Skip.”</p>
<p>“Now you’re crazy! We’d be smashed to
pieces!”</p>
<p>“Not the way I’m thinking.” A plan was
forming in Glen’s mind, as he scrambled into
the bubble tent and came out with one of their
engineering books. Skip watched in amazement
as Glen began working math problems
in the dirt with a piece of stone.</p>
<p>After a while, Glen said, “I think it’ll work,
Skip. Want to take a chance?”</p>
<p>“I’d like to know what it is first.”</p>
<p>“We can use the chute from the supply
case and attach it to the bubble,” Glen explained.
“Then we can ride in the bubble to
Mars.”</p>
<p>“It sounds fantastic!”</p>
<p>“I’ve figured it every way I know,” Glen
said. “At least, it’s better than sitting here and
hoping we’ll accidentally be found. Shall we
try it?”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_153">153</div>
<p>Skip shrugged. “If it’s our only chance. But
I hope you’ve figured all the angles!”</p>
<p>“We’d better get started right away,” Glen
advised. “We may need all our air tanks if we
have to do some walking when we land.”</p>
<p>They set to work fastening the lines of the
chute around and under the plastic bubble.
They used more of the plastic strips to secure
the lines tightly. The chute was still folded,
since the vacuum on Phobos had failed to trip
the automatic release. The boys decided to
carry only a minimum of supplies to make
their weight as light as possible. When they
were ready to go, they climbed into the bubble
and Glen shoved them off with one foot outside
the door. Then he closed the door.</p>
<p>“How long will it take us to get there?” Skip
asked.</p>
<p>“I’ve figured on about a hundred hours,”
Glen answered. “That should put us close to
Mars City, figuring on Mars’ rotation. But if
it doesn’t, we should be able to reach some research
settlement.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_154">154</div>
<p>They moved slowly at first. Glen hoped for
only enough speed to carry them into Mars’
gravity pull. As they approached the red planet,
their speed would increase and that worried
Glen. If they whacked into Mars’ air blanket
too fast, the chute might be ripped from the
bubble.</p>
<p>To while away the many hours, the boys
dozed and took turns reading the one novel
they had brought along. Their legs soon became
cramped and sore, and they would have
given a good deal to have been able to stretch
or walk about.</p>
<p>On the third day, the boys could see the
canals criss-crossing in a tangled network on
the ruddy globe of Mars. On the fourth day,
just as Glen had figured, the glassite domes of
Mars City began to show through the violet
haze of atmosphere. Glen wondered how fast
they were going. There was no way to tell because
their insulation kept them from feeling
the rush of air.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_155">155</div>
<p>“Cross your fingers, Skip,” Glen warned.
“Our chute should open in the next few minutes.”</p>
<p>The seconds appeared to last hours as they
waited, and Glen suffered a torture of suspense.
What if the chute did not open? In that
case, they would end up in fragments on Mars’
red earth. Or what if the force of the air should
jerk the chute off the bubble?</p>
<p>Even as Glen worried, he felt a sharp drag
and was tumbled over on Skip.</p>
<p>“Look! The chute’s open!” Skip pointed
overhead.</p>
<p>Some minutes later, the red ground rushed
up at them like an enfolding blanket. Their
final problem faced them now. If they landed
safely, they would have conquered space in a
way no spaceman had ever done before.</p>
<p>Glen’s muscles drew tight and his heart
thumped rapidly as the last few hundred feet
melted away. He wanted to close his eyes during
these final seconds but he forced himself
to watch the rising ground so that he could
brace himself at the moment of contact. He
was glad they had the foam rubber cushion beneath
them.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_156">156</div>
<p>Glen counted off the last few feet. “A hundred—fifty—twenty—!”</p>
<p>As they struck, Glen was thrown against the
ceiling of the bubble. Plastic clattered against
plastic as the bubble rolled over on the ground
many times before stopping. Glen straightened
himself out. He was shaken up but he was unhurt.
He looked across at Skip.</p>
<p>“We made it,” Glen said, but his voice
shook, as if he wasn’t yet able to believe it. He
tore off the door seals, shoved out the door.
Then they got out and stretched their legs.
Looking at the domes of Mars City in the distance,
Glen asked, “Ready to start walking?”</p>
<p>“After being cooped up like a chicken, I’m
willing to walk all over Mars. Let’s go.” Skip’s
natural good humor had returned.</p>
<p>Less than an hour later, an astonished captain
at the Mars City spaceport heard the boys’
strange story.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_157">157</div>
<p>“Your courage and ingenuity have been incredible!”
the captain said when they had
finished. “I can’t believe that you two are
Wockies. If you weren’t flunked for reasons of
scholarship, I’m sure you’ll be reinstated.”</p>
<p>“We weren’t flunked for that reason, sir,”
Skip said.</p>
<p>“For what reason then?” the captain asked.</p>
<p>Glen smiled wryly as he replied, “We were
flunked, sir, because we failed the test to determine
whether we could bear up in an emergency
or not!”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_158">158</div>
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